Friday, August 19, 2016

Friday 19th August 2016...the tale of two men!!!

Well it started during the night heavy winds and torrential rain and it kept up till lunch time so my morning time was taken up with animal feeding, cleaning and making some bookings for my Scotland journey.......I did have to go to town and went to buy my dinner from the local pub more on that later.....

I figure with the last three days of Olympic coverage and having to wait another 4 years I could spend extra time in front of the TV and I did!!!

Around 3.00 pm it stopped raining and I went for a 90 minute walk in which i experienced hard rain, brilliant sunshine but all the time not cold.....it was nice to get out and i went on a mystery tour taking a track behind the house..

This one just appeals to me I do not know why!!

These cows obviously are not heeding my Grandma Pearson's theory about laying down when it is raining!!!

These boys understand!!!

I just love the rolling green hills stretching as far as the eye can see...

L kept climbing higher and i knew where I was heading and I did finish up at the track that I have taken before about a mile away from the house so I reckon I walked close to 9 km and I enjoyed the time..

This home is being built about 100 yards away I don't think I care for all that stone work!!!

So came home and had a good soak no more photos today I promise....and then settled down for dinner,......Last week in the pub I had a roast pork dinner and it was lovely so I went back with my own plate and a container and bought a take out with lots of gravy on the side.....this was 9 Euros and I split it in half and will have the rest tomorrow ...it was wonderful!!!!

Tonight I watched the Canadian women beat the home side 2 - 1 in the bronze medal soccer game..it was entertaining and in a little while going to watch the final between Sweden and Germany.

So what about the tale of the two men......just little things that happened to show the way of life and the spirit of the Irish people.....the first one was at the sport's store where I bought my shirt yesterday, the shirt by the way is not a soccer shirt but a Gaelic football shirt of this county and I was asking the owner about the game and if there was any local games i could watch over the weekend.....he sat on his stool and started to tell me all about the game, the rules, got on his computer to see what games are being played and then he told me what happened last week.....he went to the local game where many players are married to opposing team's family and they all know each other and all the family goes to the games and they can get rough...this game was highlighted by a player on each team getting into it quite seriously with punches being thrown but no injuries and then he goes on to tell me that the following day the first person to come into his store was one of the combatants from the game the day before...they talked about the game and the fun and the incident and the player said no worries that was my brother in law..the bell on his door goes and who should walk in but the same Brother in law..they look at each other shake hands and talk about what a great game it was!!!!Only In Ireland!!!!!

The next encounter was yesterday on my walk I came across a man sitting at the side of the track on one of those walking stick type stools....I stopped and said hello and we got talking..he told me he was a war vet and he suffered from arthritis in his legs hips and knees but he likes to walk every day so he comes here walks a while then sits and then walks a little more before going home......he told me a little bit about his service in the war but said he could not say too much because he signed the official secrets act but he did say he was in charge of some of the signalling stations...I came away from this with a respect for the man who served his country, had crippling pains but never complained when he told me he was 71 years old I was astonished he looked much older and obviously I again thank the lucky stars and who ever else that I am blessed with great health!!!!